Haiti seeks development help
- Haiti's planning minister Sandra Paulemon met the Caribbean Development Bank on the sidelines of the IMF spring meetings to discuss development priorities. - The talks focused on co‑operation and project finance as small, fragile states try to shore up funding amid global shocks. - Briefing noted that when energy, food, and financing shocks arrive, these countries have 'little room for error' and need targeted support. (haitilibre.com)
Haiti is seeking more development financing as Planning Minister Sandra Paulemon presses regional lenders for support in Washington. (haitilibre.com) Paulemon met Caribbean Development Bank President Daniel Best on April 16, 2026, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings, according to Haiti’s government briefing carried by HaitiLibre. The meeting focused on Haiti’s priorities and on possible project financing and closer cooperation with the bank. (haitilibre.com) The Caribbean Development Bank said in March that regional growth slowed in 2025 as global uncertainty, climate shocks and fiscal pressure intensified. Excluding Guyana, the bank said Caribbean growth fell to 0.6% in 2025 from 1.4% in 2024. (caribank.org) The International Monetary Fund’s guidance for small developing states says those economies are more exposed to external shocks and often have tighter financing constraints than larger countries. The same paper says those pressures shape how the fund designs surveillance, lending and capacity-building for countries like Haiti. (imf.org) Haiti is trying to line up that support while still under an International Monetary Fund staff-monitored program. After a remote mission that ran from March 23 to April 1, 2026, IMF staff said they had reviewed Haiti’s progress with the finance ministry and the central bank. (haitilibre.com) The talks in Washington also fit a broader push by Paulemon’s ministry to tighten planning and public investment management. In March, she led a workshop on a revised Public Investment Program, and in April she held a working session on public-finance and governance reform. (haitilibre.com 1) (haitilibre.com 2) The Caribbean Development Bank is not a new partner for Haiti. The bank says Haiti joined on January 19, 2007, and it is already backing projects in the country, including a public-education program launched in March 2026 for poor and vulnerable communities. (caribank.org 1) (caribank.org 2) For Haiti, the immediate task is to turn meetings in Washington into funded projects at home. Paulemon’s stop at the Spring Meetings put that ask directly in front of one of the region’s main development lenders. (haitilibre.com)
